Artist's commentary
Bomb and Power
We now have final art for two of the most important cards in the game: Bomb and Power. Both of these pieces were drawn by the very talented M. Beatriz García, a.k.a. Deji. We have large versions you can download below.
Because Danmaku!! is based on a video game, we wanted to pay homage not only to the characters, but to the game mechanics. Touhou is fundamentally a shooter game like Ikaruga, Gradius, Raiden, or even 1942. One of the biggest conventions of the genre is that enemies drop items that you can collect to increase your firepower, and Touhou is no exception. The Power card lets players to shoot further, thus allowing them to attack more targets. In addition, it allows them to play more than one Danmaku card each turn, which is a nod to how the player gains extra “options,” or satellites that follow and fire additional shots.
Another convention of shooting games, or shmups, is the Bomb. In Touhou as many other games, Bombs can be used offensively or defensively: either to launch a powerful attack that usually clears the screen of weak enemies or seriously damaging a boss, or in a pinch to clear bullets from the screen when you would otherwise die. Touhou’s bomb effects are called Spell Cards, and these are unique for each character. Use a Bomb card to execute your character’s Spell Card, or save it for a pinch to cancel another player’s attacks!
Every character in Danmaku!! has a different Spell Card. Which one is your favorite?